Torrington BOE changing controversial athletic policy

TORRINGTON >> Torrington Schools have abandoned a draft athletic department policy that would have policed student-athletes social media use, says the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut.

“Legal counsel for the Torrington schools assured us today that the proposed student-athlete agreement we objected to has been abandoned,” said staff attorney for the ACLU of Connecticut, David McGuire.

“We thank the school board and school administrators for their attention to our objections and commend them for upholding and respecting students’ constitutional rights,” said McGuire.

During Torrington Board of Education’s last meeting, the district said it would send the draft athletic department handbook to the policy subcommittee with several documents drafted by Shipman & Goodwin, including a draft bullying policy, draft discipline policy and one-page student-athlete agreement.

Board members have previously cited an increased sense of urgency in drafting the revised policy after it was revealed that Torrington High School football’s 2012 “most valuable player” played through the season while facing felony robbery charges, and was charged with felony rape after the season ended.

The player, Edgar Gonzalez, 19, was later convicted of second-degree sexual assault and second-degree robbery and is serving a six year sentence at Mason Youth Correctional Institution.

Gonzalez’s story, and that of his teammate, Joan Toribio, 18, received national media attention after both were accused of raping two 13-year-old girls during a snowstorm on Feb. 10.

An investigation into the allegations was started when one of the girls, who was injured after the encounter with Gonzalez, told Torrington Police about the incident. She and the second 13-year-old girl, who was reticent to report the incident, were called “whore” and “hoe” by fellow students after the men were arrested.

According to the ACLU of Connecticut, the district’s attorneys at Shipman & Goodwin have confirmed the policy is being abandoned, after athletic director Mike McKenna and coaches worked for months to draft the policy.

“It’s going to be modified to incorporate the three recommendations that came through,” said board of education chair Ken Traub, about the three recommendations given to the board by Shipman & Goodwin attorneys.

The policy was initially presented at the district’s Aug. 21 board meeting, after the athletic department committee began work on the policy in early 2013.

Almost immediately after the policy was presented to the board the Torrington High School Commission on Student Rights, a student-led organization, criticized the policy and asked the Connecticut ACLU to investigate.

In a Sept. 9 letter to the district, legal director for the ACLU of Connecticut wrote that, “Some aspects of the policy are flagrantly viewpoint discriminatory,” or bar speech based on the content of a speaker’s message.

Further, the policy also policed what a student could post on social media, barring messages that might be critical of coaches or staff.

“Thus, a temperate, non-disruptive complaint to a principal, teacher or parent about a coach who unconscionably bullies his players could be construed as violating the strictures about addressing such complaints only to the coach ‘in private.’ Venting similar complaints via social media could be construed in addition as ‘inappropriate’ or ‘belittling,’” wrote the Connecticut ACLU’s legal director Sandra Straub.